Classics you liked (or not)?

[Tom_Radigan]

This type of topic might have been on this forum, but here goes nothing. The question is, are there any books/movies/etc. considered as "classic" that you had seen and felt impressed or unimpressed by them, and if so, why? I'm thinking along the lines of what you might have been required to view either as a mandatory school assignment or were otherwise pressured to see.

[Burning Sheep Productions]

A friend was telling me how good Dracula was so I read it and didn't think it was all that great a horror story. What he meant was it was great for its time. I don't regret reading it though for the view I got into really olden times ways of thinking.

[nickspoon]

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad is one of the dullest books I have ever read. Anything I was mandated to read for school was pretty much instantly ruined by analysis - one can only write so many essays on a book before it becomes exercise over art.

[Tom_Radigan]

In my own case, one choice of mine is Moby Dick. It was unpopular when it came out in the late 19th century and it hurt Herman Melville's career, and it was revived in the 1920's when it became a school exercise. But on its own merits, I thought it was filled with too much material to make a coherent story.

[Muninn]

I had to read Of Mice and Men for school and liked it. It introduced me to Steinbeck, particularly his great depression inspired books like Cannery Row, which is still a personal favourite.

[Cactus Jack]

Unimpressed:

Easy Rider- Really the movie doesn't have much of a story. The acting is good but they don't have much to do and it ends abruptly. The sound track is the best part.

The Scarlet Letter- I would rather be shot then read this again

Young Goodman Brown- Take what I said above and add "in the balls" after the word shot

Harrison Bergeron- Harrison Bergeron is an asshole and I got a question wrong on a test because I didn't think he was a hero because he tried to overthrow America and there is no proof America is no longer a democratic country.

The works of Wendell Berry - Wendell Berry is a pantsless asshole

Impressed

Wise Blood- Good book and a good movie

Watership Down- My favorite book. Made rabbits my favorite animal

Sometimes a Great Notion- My second favorite book. I've never read anything else with the same style.

Chinatown- Not even associations of raped minors can make me like this movie any less

For Whom the Bell Tolls-bad ass.

[Bocaj Claw]

I didn't particularly like Lights in August but I guess I mostly agreed with the Aesop that was hovering in there somewhere.

[Maggot Brain]

Anything by Charles Dickens is pretty much bullshit. The stories themselves are all fine, but his writing style is unacceptable.

[Tom_Radigan]

Anything by Charles Dickens is pretty much bullshit. The stories themselves are all fine, but his writing style is unacceptable.

I have an older sister who doesn't think much of him either, because she finds him too simplistic. Same with Hermann Hesse (yes, she's quite well-read.)

More classics I disliked:

Brave New World-unrealistic without actually being funny.

Watchmen-laughably dated now, but even when written, it was clear that Alan Moore didn't know squat about American politics. For example, a victory in the Vietnam War would have been a boon to Lyndon Johnson(who started the war in a big way), not Nixon. Even then, no President of the United States could have served five terms (even if term limits were repealed), simply because something else would have toppled him sooner or later. Winning major wars didn't save George H. W. Bush's or Indira Gandhi's political careers either. Also, as was proven in 2001, a major attack on New York City does not unite the world. I wonder why they bothered to make the movie?


Ones I did:

Of Mice and Men-a school assignment, but I felt it gave an honest view of the Depression and how it was like day to day, though I didn't read anything else by Steinbeck yet.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn-a school assignment, and it gave a honest account of what the old Deep South was like, both warts and virtues. This book (and others by Twain in the same scenario) effectively destroys the stereotypes of what slavery and race relations were really like in that era, contradicting modern-day agitprop, though it doesn't eschew the evil aspects of that era either.

1984-unassigned, but a great depiction of a totally tyrannical society where even freedom of thought doesn't exist.

Darkness at Noon-unassigned, and it effeectively points out that greater good does not come out of tyrannical regimes.

[Bocaj Claw]

Another thing that's unrealistic about Watchmen is that there's a glowing blue man who makes peoples heads explode.

[Tom_Radigan]

Another thing that's unrealistic about Watchmen is that there's a glowing blue man who makes peoples heads explode.

That was in the movie? I swear the glowing blue man never made anyone's head explode in the actual comic series.

[Bocaj Claw]

People's heads explode when the rest of them do. As sure as water extinguishes fire.

[Cactus Jack]

I think it was less that Nixon won the war but that he was willing to use Dr. Manhattan when no other president would. It would make citizen's wonder if another president would have the guts to use him, as well as the fact that Nixon is a dirty cheater when it comes to elections.

I agree with the attack on New York not uniting the world. I think the movie handled it better with attacks across the globe

[Tom_Radigan]

I think it was less that Nixon won the war but that he was willing to use Dr. Manhattan when no other president would. It would make citizen's wonder if another president would have the guts to use him, as well as the fact that Nixon is a dirty cheater when it comes to elections.

I doubt even Dr. Manahattan could have kept Nixon in the Presidency indefinitely. Also, Nixon was no more guilty of dirty election tactics than most other politicians of that era. He simply was a convenient whipping boy, thanks to the then-bad economy, the loss of the Vietnam War, and all the social agitation of the time. Remember the actual story featured a popular rebellion against superheroes-and it also showed how a group of superheroes didn't have the power to take over the police functions of a whole city (my favorite part of the story).

[Burning Sheep Productions]

I had to read Of Mice and Men for school and liked it.

Yes! I am very happy to have covered Of Mice and Men in school.